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10 years and a couple days ago my first band, G2K, played its first show. We set up the show with 2 other bands. We opened the show. Looking back it was a terrible awkward mess. There is a video of that show floating around somewhere between our friends. Dear lord I hope it never surfaces.

I worked with a guy named Jessie. He was the drummer for the 2nd band that night. They were called A.R. Cool guys that played Deftone covers. Over the years I became really good friends with those guys.

The 3rd band was DWB. I’m not sure how we knew them. I think Dustin knew their drummer John Riggs who would later join our band. DBW brought a lot of nazi looking fans. It was slightly intimidating for our first show out.

We rocked MVP Pizza HARD. So hard that they closed down that night and never opened again. Well… That’s our story and we’re sticking to it!

The summer between 7th and 8th grade I made the decision to move out of my Mom’s place in Oregon, and back to the Bay Area in California to live with my dad. The decision was pretty difficult to make. I loved my mother, but I was tired of the physical abuse, and even though my dad never hit me, I feared him from all of the thoughts my mom put in my head. What made me change my mind was a mini bribe from my dad. My dad had a friend, Ben. Ben was about 16 years old and was a kick ass lead guitarist. My dad said he would buy me a bass guitar if I wanted to learn so I could jam with Ben. That was a great opportunity in my eyes. Plus, Ben’s sister was cute… Need I say more?

During my 8th grade year I took bass lessons, 9th grade came around and Ben moved. My dad and I would still jam, but drums and bass guitar just aren’t as cool without a guitar player. I pretty much just gave up playing and moved on to football.

While in high school I became really good friends with a guy named Matt. He was a really good bassist. He also sang for a band that 2 of my other friends played in. At the end of our senior year Matt was kicked out of his house and my dad and grandma said he could move in.

Matt’s band wasn’t really doing anything and he knew I used to play bass so he said we should start a band, but he wanted to play drums. Soon we were jamming and talked about asking the guitarist, Dustin, from his old band to come over and jam. Dustin and I were friends when I was in 8th grade and we talked as we passed each other in high school, so I was down to jam with him.

We wrote a song or two and started looking for a singer. We tried out my buddy Ryland, but he just wanted to rap. Dustin knew Chris, and he had his own PA system. As any young band knows… If someone has a PA system, then it is mandatory that they join your band. No questions asked.

The 4 of us would practice in Dustin’s garage for 8-10 hours a day. We would piss off all of the neighbors for our screamy loud music, but Dustin’s dad always stood up for us (Thanks Steve!). Soon, we thought we were ready for our first show and booked.

I loved playing live. We sucked, but it was lots of fun. We played a ton of shows, got sick and tired of our drummer, kicked him out and asked John to join. Adding John really increased our talent level. We started getting better shows, and more fans. I was having the time of my life.

Years later Dustin and John had a falling out. Dustin left the band and Chris and I followed. The three of us joined up with another group of guys that recently disbanded and we called ourselves Forgive The Day.

Forgive the Day had a good run for 9 months, and than Dustin and I got tired of the dynamics, or lack there of, between the 3 of us and the three of them. We talked to Chris and the three of us quit the band.

A year or two later G2K resurrected. We wrote a few much heavier songs and played a few shows. When it came time to record and do pre-production Chris and I had a falling out. I walked away from the band.

That brings us to today, reliving the life that once was. Thinking if I only had known then what I know now. I’m not sure if I would want to change it though. It was a great five years of my life and it lead me to my current path. I still have a bunch of CDs and mp3s from “the good’ole days”, and when I’m old I’ll be able to show my kid(s) that their old man used to be cool.